Sometimes life is stranger than fiction even in the seemingly mundane world of car breakdowns. Forget about faulty spark plugs or a flat battery. Next time your car breaks down, it could be a cat trapped in your fan belt or a mouse nesting behind your gearbox. Sound unlikely? Not so, there really are some very strange reasons for car breakdowns.

Animal Antics

·         George Cowie from Wellsborough, Warwickshire thought he’d hit a bird while driving on a weekend break in France.  Once he got home to the UK, he saw some feathers sticking out of his car grille. He bent down to pick them out and discovered a pigeon was trapped in his grille and it was still alive. He called his breakdown service and the technician arrived promptly to help him remove the pigeon. Much to their surprise, they discovered an identity tag on the bird. The pigeon had hitched a ride across the Channel from his home in Calais. The pigeon lived to fly another day and was eventually reunited with his owner.

·         A mouse travelling in a cardboard box decided that that he’d had enough of the same four walls and nibbled an escape hole. He escaped into the car, dived into the footwell and disappeared under the dashboard. The mouse was eventually found nesting behind the gearbox.

·         A cat had to be rescued after it got stuck in a fan belt. It was trying to keep warm by the engine.

Tall tales & moments of madness

·         An elderly man called his breakdown service after trying to get his car started for three months. The technician sorted out his flat battery quickly so the man asked if they could help him get his wife out of the bath as well.

·         A lady jumped into her car after a day’s shopping only to find it wouldn’t move. Perplexed, she called her breakdown service for assistance. Help arrived quickly and the technician found that the reason her car wouldn’t move was because it had been clamped.

·         We can all be a bit absentminded at times. An estimated 40% of drivers have locked their keys inside their car at some point. Fortunately, for one woman that had locked her keys and her 10-month baby inside her car, her breakdown service arrived within four minutes of her making a call for help.

·         70% of people actually talk to their cars and 20% think that talking to their car engine will keep it running longer. They say talking to your plants helps them grow but talking to your car engine? I’m not so sure.

Weird tales from around the world

·         Bhatinda, India

Local cabbie Harpreet Devi drove 35 miles home backwards when his car got stuck in reverse. He decided that driving backwards was the way to go and since then he and his wife claim to have driven over 7,500 miles in reverse.

·         Donja Stubica, Croatia

On a freezing winter’s day, Zlatko Grden couldn’t get his car started. He decided to make a fire out of newspapers under the engine of his Opel Kadett. Unfortunately, his fire was a little too effective and set light to the car, totally destroying it.

Motorway survival

Breaking down on the motorway can be a scary experience. But if you know what to do before it happens, it doesn’t have to be a nightmare.

Here are a few useful survival tips.

·         Pull off the road onto the hard shoulder as far off the motorway as you can.

·         Get out of your car from the passenger door, away from traffic.

·         Follow the arrows on roadside markers to the nearest emergency phone to call for assistance.

·         Climb up the embankment. It’s the safest place to wait.

·         Keep children with you at all times.

To the rescue

When you are on the road, you need to know that if you need help, it’s just a phone call away. Breakdown cover is an excellent add-on to your car insurance policy, providing you with quick, effective roadside assistance whenever and wherever you need it. You can chose from a range of service levels that will give you complete peace of mind on the road. For more information about the types of car insurance and breakdown cover available from Churchill, visit http://www.churchill.com.